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This article originally appeared in Bristows' Monthly Technology, Media and Telecommunications e-newsletter, The Cookie Jar.

With the humble barcode achieving the immortalisation of being incorporated into the Google homepage logo last month, it seems fitting to examine its younger, more versatile offspring, the Quick Response (or 'QR') barcode. Following the barcode's 57^th anniversary of patent filing on 7^th October 2009, many advertisers are now turning to the new QR standard to reinforce their marketing messages.

QR barcodes are two-dimensional barcodes consisting of a pattern of black and white squares in a grid, typically about 20-30 squares wide. The two dimensional nature of the pattern significantly increases the volume of information that can be incorporated into any given space. Twinned with the ever increasing quality of mobile phone cameras, which can be used to scan QR barcodes, the potential for QR barcodes as an advertising medium is exceptional. QR barcodes are included on products, in magazine advertisements, on billboards or shown in TV advertisements.  The consumer can then scan the QR barcode using a mobile phone to be linked to a micro-site related to the relevant product.  QR barcodes have wide ranging applications from linking users to precise calorie information on sandwiches through to locating an advertiser's nearest store.  QR barcodes provide advertisers with an ideal tool to extend the period of time in which they engage with the customer.

Notwithstanding the fact that companies including Pepsi and News Group Newspapers have embraced the technology, the use of QR barcodes in the UK remains in its infancy.  QR technology, however, now has some powerful commercial support in the form of the mobile phone networks. Links to websites through mobile phones use the data network and accordingly, that use is chargeable. For the networks, this is preferable to current forms of immediate transmission in advertising such as Bluetooth or Infrared transfer of data. This added interest from UK mobile phone networks is reflected in the increasing number of mobile phones shipped either with pre-existing QR software or with the compatibility for such.

But how might advertising content delivered through this new conduit be regulated (if at all)?  The Advertising Standards Authority does not currently regulate website content that is not contained within 'paid-for' space (such as pop-ups and banners).  Although it was announced this week that the ASA plans to extend its remit to include website content, this change is unlikely to take effect until the end of 2010.  Accordingly, a QR link via a QR barcode could be used as a strategy to avoid compliance under the ASA codes altogether.  However, this type of approach is likely to be overly simplistic and advertisers should proceed with caution.  For example, where a television or printed advertisement positively encourages the viewer to interact with a QR barcode, it would be open to the ASA to seize jurisdiction and adjudicate on the marketing communication 'as a whole' -   including the original ad and the linked landing page.  It is increasingly likely that this type of approach will be adopted wherever children are targeted and (perhaps inadvertently) directed to inappropriate content.

The introduction of QR barcodes highlights a broader issue regarding the ASA's appetite to begin regulating various new forms of digital media.  Organisations including the Digital Media Group are now seeking to extend the scope of the current ASA framework to deal specifically with recent technological developments. Maintaining advertising standards will become increasingly difficult as the pace at which new delivery platforms are developed increases.  With the publication of the new ASA Codes now scheduled for early next year, it will be interesting to see just how far the ASA is prepared to go to keep up.